cycling questions

Amprodude

Ok guys a few months ago here i posted asking you advice if i should join a cycling club or not as i do my own cycling and was afraid if i could stay with the cyclists in a club or not?

I joined a club anyway and went on my first cycle yesterday. We did around 50km and the pace was fast but found it fine and kept to the groups tail until 45km and then I got dropped once or twice for last 5km as my legs tired. I felt terrible when this happened and tried my best to catch up but a cyclist from the group waited for me and gave me a push as i got up to speed and then I caught up to the group again. Anyway I dont want this to happen again if possible, so just wondering is there anything I can do to help me improve?

I workout 4-5 times a week, im relatively fit I feel but this month its mainly swimming, weights upper body, running and cycling both exercise bike and my bike on my rollers ive being doing. Today i was found wanting for the remaining 5km so im going to do something to improve as suggested from posters/usernames here. I know I need to.

As im kind of new to road cycling bought bike last May, there are questions I have for the experts here:


1. What kind of exercises can I do in the gym to increase my intensity/keep me going at the pace for longer? These days I cant get out on the bike until weekends. In my first club cycle, I wasnt out of breath but just had no more fuel left in the legs for the last 5km.


2. What foods/should i take before a cycle that will slow release energy? Should i take a protein shake?

3.What foods/drinks should i take during cycle for energy? I had no energy left last 5km of cycle.

4. Should I not do any exercise the day before the club go cycling? I did go swimming and did 3.7km day before cycle and I feel this was a big mistake.

5. My gear changing i feel isnt perfect. Any resistance on straights and i drop to lower gear and speed drops. Any tips here? On the straights i cant get to same speed as the other cyclists. Im better than some of them up the hills though.

6. Desperation question here but anything I can do with my bike? I didnt fill my 2 water bottles up to top at all, 1 half full, the other 3/4 full to reduce weight. I wouldnt use it all anyway. Would carbon wheels make that much of a difference? I weigh 70kgs 6 foot 2 so I dont think my body weight is an issue on bike. Maybe it is?

6. Can I ask will I find myself improving as I do more club cycles?

Open to all suggestions here.

Thanks in advance.

feck sake lads

simple more miles on the road keep your cadence fairly high dont be pushing big gears well not until your legs know your on a bike.

food on the bike stick 2or3 power bars in your jersey pocket but be sure you enjoy the taste 2 water bottels one with water only the other with energy drink ,you can make your own energy drink like half water half coke,mybe a spoonful of glucose powder.;)
remember when your in a group watch what the more experience riders are doing dont be pushing up the pace when its your turn up front if your finding the pace hard find a good wheel to sit on and drink plenty.

anyway give yourself time 3 weeks of road miles and you will be flying thats a certain;)

chakattack

Amprodude wrote: »

Ok guys a few months ago here i posted asking you advice if i should join a cycling club or not as i do my own cycling and was afraid if i could stay with the cyclists in a club or not?

I joined a club anyway and went on my first cycle yesterday. We did around 50km and the pace was fast but found it fine and kept to the groups tail until 45km and then I got dropped once or twice for last 5km as my legs tired. I felt terrible when this happened and tried my best to catch up but a cyclist from the group waited for me and gave me a push as i got up to speed and then I caught up to the group again. Anyway I dont want this to happen again if possible, so just wondering is there anything I can do to help me improve? Train more!

I workout 4-5 times a week, im relatively fit I feel but this month its mainly swimming, weights upper body, running and cycling both exercise bike and my bike on my rollers ive being doing. Today i was found wanting for the remaining 5km so im going to do something to improve as suggested from posters/usernames here. I know I need to.

As im kind of new to road cycling bought bike last May, there are questions I have for the experts here:


1. What kind of exercises can I do in the gym to increase my intensity/keep me going at the pace for longer? These days I cant get out on the bike until weekends. In my first club cycle, I wasnt out of breath but just had no more fuel left in the legs for the last 5km. Maybe running or rowing at a similar intensity and duration. You'd be better off on your bike on the rollers. You need cycling fitness


2. What foods/should i take before a cycle that will slow release energy? Should i take a protein shake? Porridge and coffee

3.What foods/drinks should i take during cycle for energy? I had no energy left last 5km of cycle. Energy drink/banana/cereal bar - eat something every hour and before you're hungry

4. Should I not do any exercise the day before the club go cycling? I did go swimming and did 3.7km day before cycle and I feel this was a big mistake. Depends on how hard you went and if you ate properly after, no need to rest up for a 2 hr cycle

5. My gear changing i feel isnt perfect. Any resistance on straights and i drop to lower gear and speed drops. Any tips here? On the straights i cant get to same speed as the other cyclists. Im better than some of them up the hills though. Pedal faster in the lower gear, takes practice to develop fast cadence

6. Desperation question here but anything I can do with my bike? I didnt fill my 2 water bottles up to top at all, 1 half full, the other 3/4 full to reduce weight. I wouldnt use it all anyway. Would carbon wheels make that much of a difference? I weigh 70kgs 6 foot 2 so I dont think my body weight is an issue on bike. Maybe it is? Easy tiger...better training and nutrition during the spin will help you, shaving a few grams won't stop you from getting dropped

6. Can I ask will I find myself improving as I do more club cycles? Of course!

Open to all suggestions here.

Thanks in advance.

Answers underlined. Just keep it up and ride your bike.

Tonyandthewhale

Amprodude wrote: »

These days I cant get out on the bike until weekends. In my first club cycle,

Why not? If it's because there's no daylight to ride in? If so invest in a good set of lights. Decent lights will make you an awful lot faster and stronger than carbon wheels ever will.
If your fitness goals are cycling related then you should spend more time cycling (or at the very least stuff like running which is a similar work out). I'm not saying you should give up the rest of your gym work because I'm sure it's fun and rewarding in its own way but don't expect upper body weights work to help you very much as a cyclist.

Also, hanging on for 90% of your first road spin is perfectly good going and not something to worry about.

ballyharpat

The advice given above by chakattack is good advice, but also, don't be hard on yourself, you will get faster by staying riding with them, practically everyone gets dropped on their first group ride, the group will appreciate your enthusiasm to hang on for as long as possible-nothing worse than some guy coming on a group ride that when dropped doesn't try hard to catch back on....
Stay the course, In a month you will be finishing with them!

hardCopy

Without knowing your level of fitness or swimming experience, 3.7km in the pool the day before a tough cycle sounds like a lot.

Ryder

In 6'4" and 85kg. Weight was never an issue except on hills, and even then I was far from slowest....so your weight is fine
Agree with the above about maybe dropping swimming and weights if cycling is your goal. I would also add structured interval training midweek....like 3 X 10 min pieces just to enhance your ability to withstand the intensity. IMO more beneficial than just getting out for an hours cycle. The weekly long spin is enough for your endurance

Wishbone Ash

hardCopy wrote: »

3.7km in the pool the day before a tough cycle sounds like a lot.

Yes - 148 laps of a standard 25m pool! :eek:

Amprodude

Ryder wrote: »

In 6'4" and 85kg. Weight was never an issue except on hills, and even then I was far from slowest....so your weight is fine
Agree with the above about maybe dropping swimming and weights if cycling is your goal. I would also add structured interval training midweek....like 3 X 10 min pieces just to enhance your ability to withstand the intensity. IMO more beneficial than just getting out for an hours cycle. The weekly long spin is enough for your endurance

To be honest cycling and swimming are my goals, sometimes a bit of occasional running thrown in but I can rule this out if its needed. I will do some swimming after my cycling training but whatever I need to get done with my cycling training will take priority over my swimming now.


Yeah I'm going to drop the weights dont really need them to be honest but might do leg presses and lunges instead but I will await back here first to see if that's a good idea or not? Just wondering would leg weights and lunges help leg muscles for cycling? If not, I won't do them.


Can I ask when you mean 3x 10 min pieces, is this on exercise bike or rollers? If its exercise bike, what gear should I do this for good intensity? 10 12 15? etc. if its rollers should select gear on bike to the max and pedal as hard as I can?


Thanks guys for your suggestions and inputs.

ballyharpat

Look up Intervals for cycling, you should start with one 5 minute interval at LT-Lactate threshold(figure this out from your Max Heart Rate), the following week throw in 2x5 minute intervals and the third week 3x5 minute intervals, then a week recovery, start off the next week back on 1x10, 2nd week 2x10, 3rd week 3x10, f5 to 10 minutes recovery between each set, build up to 3x20, so it will take about 4 months, but you will notice the improvement after 2-3 weeks,

Ryder

Amprodude wrote: »

To be honest cycling and swimming are my goals, sometimes a bit of occasional running thrown in but I can rule this out if its needed. I will do some swimming after my cycling training but whatever I need to get done with my cycling training will take priority over my swimming now.


Yeah I'm going to drop the weights dont really need them to be honest but might do leg presses and lunges instead but I will await back here first to see if that's a good idea or not? Just wondering would leg weights and lunges help leg muscles for cycling? If not, I won't do them.


Can I ask when you mean 3x 10 min pieces, is this on exercise bike or rollers? If its exercise bike, what gear should I do this for good intensity? 10 12 15? etc. if its rollers should select gear on bike to the max and pedal as hard as I can?


Thanks guys for your suggestions and inputs.

Cycling swimming and some running....are you training for triathlon? If so may be worth posting in that forum for better advice.

Cycling and weights is contentious. They probably are beneficial but if you're only training 4-5 times a week then you're better off cycling. Make sure to do core work also.

You can make intervals as hard as you want. Use the rest time and work time to target functional threshold improvements, lactate, aero ic power etc. 10 min intervals are pretty standard across a lot of sports to increase your lactate threshold. Work with heart rate, or just cycle as hard as you can for the 10 mins...with practice your own sence of exertion will be accurate. 20 X 2 with a 5 min break is also pretty standard and is good for increasing your sustained power. This I tervals is sligt less intense per unit time, but simply cy le at the max intensity you can for 20mi s, that will be the right intensity

Amprodude

Ok since last Sunday I did 4 interval training sessions. 2 on my own bike and 2 on the gym bike. Covered 66km with my bike on the two sessions (5km speed sprints and pedalled as fast as i could). slowed pace down for 1km after each 5km cycle sprints before repeating 5 km sprints again. I did 70 km on gym bike over two sessions( 30km + 40 km) every 5km at resistance 15 and turned down to 10 for 1km bursts before going back up to 15 again and continuing on for 5 km and repeat cycles. Absolute torture but hopefully will prepare me better for Sundays spin. Also I did squats lunges leg curls leg extensions and leg presses to strengthen my legs, hope I won't be too far off pace next Sunday.

Will this type of training improve my cycling fitness may I ask?

Ryder

I think the short answer is no. While ANY training will improve fitness, it needs to be specific to your goals. What are your seasons goals? Reading over the thread some of the goals appear to keeping up with the cycling group......
If so. Drop the weights. Its really hard to see what benefit they have especially when unstructured. If you're going to do them for cycling it may be best to do a program in the winter and then do maintenance weights throughout the year...buy again no real benefit proven for amateur cycling. Specifically to the club spins, keep them up, and take the day off before. There's loads of interval programs sessions, but an effective and easy one is 3 10 minute pieces with 5 min break twice a week. Each interval should really be at threshold (the maximum that you can genuinely do for the 10 minutes)

Hope that helps but you really need to clarify goals first

Amprodude

Ryder wrote: »

I think the short answer is no. While ANY training will improve fitness, it needs to be specific to your goals. What are your seasons goals? Reading over the thread some of the goals appear to keeping up with the cycling group......
If so. Drop the weights. Its really hard to see what benefit they have especially when unstructured. If you're going to do them for cycling it may be best to do a program in the winter and then do maintenance weights throughout the year...buy again no real benefit proven for amateur cycling. Specifically to the club spins, keep them up, and take the day off before. There's loads of interval programs sessions, but an effective and easy one is 3 10 minute pieces with 5 min break twice a week. Each interval should really be at threshold (the maximum that you can genuinely do for the 10 minutes)

Hope that helps but you really need to clarify goals first

My goals are to stay with the group to the very end without failing. They were doing 28km/h average speed over 50km. Found that ok until 45km and then my legs turned to jelly and lost pace. Worst thing is that was considered a short cycle by group so next weeks will be longer. Got a program off the Internet and applied it to my training this week. Leg weights were mentioned which is why I did them too. I will try your advice next week and you reckon I should completely dump the leg weights?

Ryder

Amprodude wrote: »

My goals are to stay with the group to the very end without failing. They were doing 28km/h avg speed over 50km. Found that ok until 45km and then my legs turned to jelly and lost pace. ThT was considered a short cycle by group so next weeks will be longer. Got a program off the Internet and applied it to my training this week. Leg weights were mentioned which is why I did them too. I will try your advice next week and you reckon I should completely dump the leg weights?

Combination of endurance and ability to handle intensity. The club spin should handle the endurance aspect. Do an hour extra if you can afterwards if it is only 50k. The intervals twice a week will help with intensity. Do one other 60 - 90 minute endurance spin in the week if you have time

The weights likely detract from your fitness unless a serious amateur/pro. Your time is best spent on the bike. In any event, the weights will fatigue you in the short term...if going them at all, I would think an 8-12 week program Como g into the WI ter would be best

colm_gti

Don't forget to give your body time to recover as well!

If you spend all week training to hang onto a fast club ride, you're body is probably too tired by the end of the week!

Amprodude

colm_gti wrote: »

Don't forget to give your body time to recover as well!

If you spend all week training to hang onto a fast club ride, you're body is probably too tired by the end of the week!

Did light training yesterday and nothing today. I do expect to get dropped tomorrow but wouldnt mind if it happens near the very end of cycle. More than anything i want to see an improvement.

AIR-AUSSIE

I wouldn't agree that upper body weights are useless for cycling. Your arms, neck and back can take a battering on long cycles. To help reduce fatigue during and after a cycle its best if these areas are exercised also.

http://www.bicycling.com/training-nutrition/chris-carmichael/arm-yourself

Amprodude wrote: »

Did light training yesterday and nothing today. I do expect to get dropped tomorrow but wouldnt mind if it happens near the very end of cycle. More than anything i want to see an improvement.

I wouldn't be so hard on yourself either depending on your cycling fitness and if the group cycles you were on was in the recent windy weather, 27km/h average speed could be difficult to maintain.

Amprodude

Took off with the fast group in my club again today. They arent the racing group. They did about 83km at about 28.6km/h.. I kept with them for 73km exactly and then got dropped and dropped badly on a final incline. The positives i can take from this is,

1. My endurance is slightly better now from 45km first day out with them before getting dropped.73km this time.

2. I was strong enough to lead group for various stages and i was told i was setting pace too high by experienced rider(big mistake on my part i know) but good to hear. I was upfront for alot of it and felt i could go forever.

3. One of the experienced riders told me that i was strong on hills and found it hard to keep with me. I have done alot of hard training over last two weeks so its slowly paying off.

4. I nearly finished with them but more hard training needed.

5. Greater motovation to train harder during week, i want to get better.

6 One of riders gave me a few tips and encouragment to go out with them again next week and said that its only february and you are putting in big kms now that will stand to you in the later months. He said im nearly there.

7. Alot of big hills on todays cycle and did fine until last one.


Negatives.

1. Made the mistake of leading group for too long for various stages with strong wind and i set pace too fast. I will know better next time.

2. I dont know how often i should be eating during cycle. I had energy drink and food with me and eat them during cycle but still burned out towards end.

3. Legs turned to jelly after 73km and slowly lost sight of group. Again two riders waited for me and finished with me.

4. I am self concious and feel ashamed of getting dropped and im the only one who got dropped. I am my own worse enemy that way.

5. The fear of getting dropped again next week???

6. Passerby car threw an object at me and shouted abuse at me when cycling, i got a bit of a shock but i was tired and was near the end of cycle so didnt effect me too badly. Still no need for that.



I would like to hear peoples opinions here and any feedback suggestions they might have now?


Thanks.